Lost Recipes: A last look at seven 'secret' granny recipes from 1940

We've made it to week four of our four-part series celebrating the recipes of your grannies, submitted to the Montgomery Advertiser in 1940, and it's been a delicious slice of history.

Before we get into the recipes, if you haven't seen one yet from your family please don't fret. There are a whole bunch more in our archives that we just haven't got to yet. So keep reading, because we'll be offering many more granny recipes in the near future.

Now, it's recipe time!

Frosted Ladyfingers

For those unfamiliar with them, ladyfingers are sweet sponge cake biscuits that are, of course, shaped like fingers. For this recipe From Mrs. John E. Harris of Clanton Avenue in Montgomery, you don’t even have to make them. Just buy a box with at least 12 of them. You’ll also need an egg white, a third cup of tart jelly (plum), 2 cups of sugar, a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of vanilla, and a cup of chopped nuts.

Split a dozen ladyfingers, spread jelly inside and put the halves back together. Add sugar gradually to unbeaten egg white, and add salt. Use enough sugar to make the icing a good consistency for spreading. Add vanilla. Frost the ladyfingers on all sides, and roll in chopped nuts. Place on wax paper until dry.

Avocado Salad

Miss J.M. Nelson of Selma submitted a simple recipe that avocado lovers will enjoy. Start with one large avocado, 2 cups of finely chopped fresh tomatoes, a small chopped onion, a half cup of cottage cheese, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, a tablespoon of lemon juice of vinegar, a teaspoon of salt, and some pepper.

Peel the avocado, remove the seed and chop it fine. Toss all ingredients into a large bowl and blend. This serves six. Note that if the tomatoes are very juicy, press some of the juice out.

Spicy Green Beans

Mrs. Elmer Runner of Route 4 in Montgomery shared a super simple spicy green bean dish that’ll make the other sides to any dish green with envy. You’ll need a cup of chopped onions, 4 tablespoons of shortening, a teaspoon of salt, a cup of cream, a fourth cup of nutmeg, and 4 cups of cooked green beans.

Brown the onions in hot fat. Add the remaining ingredients, mix well, and slowly cook together for 10 minutes.

Lemon Pie

Mrs. Frank Watts of Forest Home has a sweet summer treat with this lemon pie recipe. You’ll need 6 eggs, 2 cups of sugar, a cup of sweet milk, 2 lemons with rind and juice, 2 tablespoons flour, and a piece of butter the “size of an egg.”

You’ll need to break our your double boiler and cook the filling on the stovetop using all the ingredients. Heat and stir until it is thick enough to be poured into a pastry shell that’s already been baked. Use the lemon rind to decorate.

Hot Milk Cake

Mrs. M.G. McInnis of Route 4, Montgomery, submitted a simple Hot Milk Cake recipe that’s sure to please. It calls for 4 eggs, 2 cups of sugar, 2 cups of flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, a half cup of butter, and a cup of milk.

Put the milk and butter in a pan and heat until the butter is melted. Break whole eggs into a mixing bowl, add sugar and beat well. Add flour into which baking powder has been sifted, then add hot milk. Pour the batter into a baking pan. It doesn’t say, but bake it at about 400 until done. “Use any flavoring and filling desired.”

Nut Brittle

Evy Ruffin of Evergreen was obviously fond of brittle, and presented a simple way to make this treat. You’ll need three cups of chopped nuts (I’d prefer pecans, cashews and maybe almonds). You’ll also need a few grains of salt, baking soda, 2 cups of granulated sugar, and a tablespoon of shortening.

Melt the sugar in a frying pan over medium heat, stirring it up from the bottom so it doesn’t burn. Add the shortening, salt, and baking soda. Pour at once over the nuts, which have been sprinkled around a greased pan. When the mixture cools down, break into irregular pieces.

Bran Pastry and Bran Biscuits

We’ll never know who sent in these next two Grandma’s Recipes to the Advertiser, since they were uncredited. But if your granny or great-granny was obsessed with bran then it might have been her. So what is bran? It’s the hard outer layer of whole cereal grains, like oats, rice, wheat and even corn. It’s nutritious and has lots of fiber.

We’ll start with a tasty bran pastry, which is a shell of a recipe. You’re literally making the pastry shell for a pie. Use it with whatever pie filling you like, though I’d go for peanut butter. To make your pie shell, you’ll need a quarter cup of bran, one and a half cups of flour, half a teaspoon of salt, a half cup of shortening, and four tablespoons of cold water. Roll the bran until it’s finely ground, then combine it with flour and salt. Cut in the shortening to hold it together. Roll out on a lightly floured board until it’s about an eighth of an inch in thickness. Place the rolled pastry loosely into a pie pan, and trim the edges. Leave about a half inch of pastry beyond the edge of the pan. Fold the extended edge under and flute. Prick pastry shell with a fork and bake at 450 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.

Next up, it’s bran biscuits. For this one, you’ll need a half cup of bran, three quarters cup of buttermilk, one and a half cups of flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, a teaspoon of salt, half teaspoon of baking soda, and a half cup of shortening. Start by soaking your bran in buttermilk. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda together. Cut in shortening until the mixture is like coarse cornmeal. Add the soaked bran, and then stir until the dough follows the fork around the bowl. Turn it out onto a floured board and knead lightly for a few seconds. Roll or pat into half inch thickness and cut with a floured cutter. Bake your biscuits on a lightly greased pan at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes. Should yield about 12 biscuits.

IF YOU TRY IT

If you decide to try one of these lost recipes please send us a photo and a note on how it went. Send it in an email titled "Lost Recipes" to Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel at sheupel@gannett.com.